Is the human body offensive?

Today, my friend Shirley posted an article entitled Was this woman’s heartfelt facebook post really offensive? on her facebook. When i read the post, I was appalled. Not by the content of the article but by the fact that people could actually be offended by it. 

Anyone who is offended by those images of Beth's post-surgery body needs to rethink their attitude to the human body. There is nothing offensive about the body - anyone's body - be it scarred by sickness or healthy. Be our breasts perky or sagging and our stomachs smooth or covered with stretch marks. Our human bodies are the ultimate in being natural.

We were really "born this way" - before we covered our bodies up with fabric and social constructs. I remember when I was pregnant and I had bought a magazine on motherhood in Malaysia. There was an article on breastfeeding, and some misguided person in the censorship board had gone through every single photo of a bare breast in that article and covered it with a black marker pen. I was shocked. Do people NOT know what breasts are for???? They are for feeding children. Yes breasts are also erogenous zones but their primary function IS to feed our young and the photos in the article were there for education not titillation. And who came up with the idea that breastfeeding in public is offensive? Breastfeeding is exactly what breasts are for. If men cannot control themselves from getting sexually arounsed by watching a woman breastfeed,  the problem lies with our society's unnatural taboo about it. You don't see tribal men get excited about seeing their women breastfeed because it is so commonplace. Anyway, I digress.

Some were young and perfect once. Some were born not like others, but no less as nature had dictated it. Are any of us an "offence"? To whom? If anyone out there is such a picture of perfection and they can criticise someone else, they cannot be human, because they have no heart.

Comments

[Shirleymayatan]

Great post, Shaz! I think it is sad that so many people actually un-friended too and have this problem with the human body. Some see vulgarity, some become offended, and what not. The list goes on.
It is very sad that people cannot see either the purity or even her scars. I mean, each scar on her body is like a medal to me - a medal to honour her fearless courage, her surviving spirit and her on-going battle with cancer. I applaud Beth and would give her a standing ovation.
Like I mentioned in my FB posting - your reaction to her pictures would reveal more about you than about her. If someone is at all bothered by it, then he or she should look deep into themselves and ask why.
I wish Beth all the very best. She is an inspiration to us all!